Volker Bertelmann just won the Oscar for Best Score for All Quiet on the Western Front,
and almost immediately, I started hearing from some composers that that score was
boring and just long string pads. They said it didn't have any themes, and they didn't
understand why it won. So, I haven't seen the movie yet. For the next two and a half hours,
you're gonna watch me watch the- I'm just kidding! I'm gonna go watch the movie and then I'm gonna
come back and share my thoughts on why the score won an Oscar and how the composer was able to beat
out John Williams and Carter Burwell, all these other great composers. So, I'll see you soon.
Okay, I'm back. First of all, I'll say
that was a brilliant film and a horrible experience. Props to everyone involved in
making the movie, but it was about as depressing as I expected. But anyway, let's talk about the
music. I get it, by that I mean, I understand the criticism, but I also understand why it won.
So yes, it's repetitive. There's not really anything super tuneful or memorable other
than maybe like a three-note lick. But even if it doesn't work so well as an album, it
works brilliantly with the film and the story, and that's really the point of a film score, isn't it?
So, just to warn you, there might be some mild spoilers as I talk about the movie. But by now,
we've hopefully caught up to the news as of November 1918,
so I feel like calling them spoilers is maybe a bit much. Anyway, you've been warned.
There's a lot we could talk about, but I want to focus on three main
points that stood out to me. The first is that the score felt honest. There's
a really interesting moment very early in the film for the fresh recruits are
smiling and happy and singing, and the score is dark, dissonant, and foreboding. [Music]
The normal thing to do when characters are singing like this is to just stay out of the way;
there's already music. Let it be heard. Another choice is to use the score to support the singing,
maybe add fullness with the strings and make it more energetic or cinematic. But Bertelmann takes
the third option, which is to use the score to conflict with the singing. We're only about 13
minutes into the movie, and I think a normal, typical approach, at least this early in the
story, would be to have the score, if you have it at all, be in step with the feelings of the
main characters. "Hey, this is so exciting! We're finally men! This is our chance!" But
like I mentioned, we, as an audience, all know what's going to happen, so for the music to be
overtly heavy and depressing right off the bat is really the most honest approach they could take.
Compare that to Dario Marianelli's score to 2007's Atonement, which also won the Oscar for
Best Score. That's also a movie about a World War, but at its heart, it's a romantic drama. [Music]
In the case of All Quiet on the Western Front, they're not going to fool anyone
into thinking this is going to be a sweeping romance. We all know where this is going,
so why beat around the bush? Let's make it clear these poor fools are naive,
and horrible things are coming for them, and we don't need to pretend otherwise.
Next thing that stood out to me was how the score developed. It felt like,
as the movie was unfolding, the music was actually becoming more and more beautiful.
Compare the cues "Remains" from the beginning of the film to "Making Sense of War" near the end.
[Music]
There are a few exceptions; it's not a straight line. But for the most part,
it felt like heading towards beauty was the direction the music was taking. About 15
minutes before the end of the movie, there's a Bach Church cantata performed on piano, and it
really sticks out as exceptionally beautiful music in contrast to what we've been hearing. [Music]
It's kind of the opposite of the direction of the film, where things just get worse and
worse. So maybe the idea was to highlight the absurdity of war, or maybe it was just to keep
the audience from getting too depressed. Whatever the reasoning, I think it worked.
The third strength of the score is contrast: contrast with the direction of the story,
contrast with the naively singing soldiers against what we know is really their fate.
In an interview with NPR, Bertelmann explained that this contrast was a very
intentional part of the approach to telling the story. Director Edward Berger said to me,
"Please do something that is destroying the pictures, that is not, you know,
underlining what we already see. We don't need that; it's already all there."
A central and important theme of the movie is a contrast between the experience of the soldiers
on the front lines against the officers, safe and sound back at headquarters. There's a scene
where General Friedrichs, essentially the main villain, is enjoying a luxurious dinner by a
warm fire and listening to an aria from an Italian opera by Alfredo Catalani. [Music]
The fact that the score has, for the most part, not had beautiful, lyrical melodies and rich,
romantic harmonies really helps highlight this contrast. That aria really sticks out,
and it makes the general even more repulsive in a way that would not have
been as poignant if it didn't sound so different from everything else.
So, All Quiet on the Western Front score may not be something you want to listen to for fun,
but the way it supports the story and feels like such a modern interpretation of the material is
outstanding. Congratulations, Volker! If you think something else should have won the award,
let us know in the comments. Thanks for watching; I'll see you in the next one.